little Tannenberg

A monument to those Expelled from East Prussia (The so called Kleines Tannenberg-Denkmal, Oberschleißheim)

The monument was erected in 1984 under the patronage of the then Prime Minister of Bavaria, Franz Josef Strauß, and the German victims of expulsion from the former East Prussia. The inauguration took lace on 19 July 1984, and the memorial of the expelled gained the commonly used name of "Little Tannenberg", as it made ideological references to Tannenberg-Denkmal, commemorating the historic Battle of Tannenberg of 1914.

The architectural arrangement of "Little Tannenberg" (five times smaller) alludes to the original by the repetition of the octagonal form, the placement of – in this case – eight rather small cubes on a circular plan with a seven-metre high oak cross in the centre. On a small wall in the memorial, bronze plaques commemorate the particular army units which took part in the battle. Additionally, small niches in the wall composed like a lapidarium and holding "fatherland soil" in urns (visible through glass, and described on a small plaque), is the symbolic place of rest for those who fell far away from home.

Nearby, two ancient bells, from 1622 and 1652, were brought from the Church in Kiwity in the Land of Varmia in East Prussia and mounted onto a wooden belfry.

In 2008, this place of memorial was devastated and desecrated, loosing its original appearance. Now it serves as a meeting place for young people belonging to the Centre of the Polish-German Youth Exchange.

The "Monument to the Expelled from East Prussia" – the so called "Little Tannenberg", located near the Schleißheim Airport in Bavaria until 2008. A photograph from the 1980s.

A photograph of the refashioned monument in Oberschleißheim.

An urn placed in a niche in the "fatherland" wall (from East Prussia) with the description of the place and date.

The venue for "Youth Meetings" finally refashioned.